A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller Jr.
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Book Reviews of A Canticle for Leibowitz
Book Review: Just stick a pencil in my eye please.
Summary: 1 Stars
I read this book maybe 20 years ago, and it was so painful, that I remember it's title to this day. If Amazon offered negative stars, mine would hit somewhere around -100.
I'm a speed reader, and back then I was hitting something like 400 WPM, with a frighteningly good recall. So I'd burn through books during my lunch hour, and I love reading, always have.
This is the only book that took me more than a month to read. It took me 4 YEARS to finish it. I'd lay it on a shelf, and hope my magic godmother would come down and turn it into a remotely interesting read. 4 years! I could only read so much before it became traumatically boring. But I slugged on, as there's only been one other book I've never finished reading. And that one I threw out of a 3rd story window.
If you're a masochist unable to sleep and interact with human beings, you'll enjoy the book. Actually, I'm questioning your humanity right now. This would be a good book to torture political prisoners with. If I hated someone more than life itself, I'd chain them to a table and make them read this book. Throw this book into a book burning pyre and this damn thing would be the only book to survive. There is a special level of hell where they make you read this book every day for the rest of eternity. And all of this is just the iceberg of how I feel about this mutant horror masquerading as high-browed science fiction.
BTW, I can't Remember the Title of the Book I threw out the Window, but I remember it Capitalized every Other word because It was Significant and Artsy.
Book Review: A Classic Sci-Fi Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read "A Canticle for Liebowitiz" at least a half dozen times over the years and am constantly reminded why this novel has received its much deserved acclaim as a classic masterpiece.
By now most readers should know that the setting is the post-apocalyptic future where civilization has been devastated by nuclear war. Isaac Liebowitz, a scientist who helped cause the war, establishes an order of monks charged with the mission of gathering and preserving all remnants of scientific knowledge. The first third of the novel takes place shortly after the devastation. The second third skips 600 years later with the final third commencing another 600 years after that.
What the novel reflects is mankind's resiliency in surviving and rising from a catastrophic event to regenerate itself. What one man's mind has previously created can be recreated by another. But while all of mankind's brilliant achievements may again be replicated so may mankind's ability to destroy itself. While the theme of cyclic history is not new the manner which author Walter Miller pens it was, and is, very real to people in 1960 (when the novel first came out) who earnestly believed that a cataclysmic nuclear holocaust was inevitable.
Other themes are embedded within the novel especially the philosophical debate between church and state. For me, "A Canticle for Liebowitz" is an ingenious work that was well ahead of its time. A classic masterpiece for sure.
Book Review: Prerequisites in Latin, Catholocism and Sci Fi
Summary: 2 Stars
The message of this book can be summed up by one quote from its last chapter: "To minimize suffering and to maximize security were natural and proper ends of society and Caesar. But then they became the only ends, somehow, and the only basis of law--a perversion. Inevitably, then, in seeking only them, we found only their opposites: maximum suffering and minimum security." It is the story of a civilization once obliterated by nuclear war that lives to evolve into another society that even knowing what was wrought centuries ago, must wrestle with the choice to detonate again.
I first tried to read this book in college as part of a humanities course entitled "Science Fiction." I believe this was the third or fourth Sci Fi book I ever endeavored to read. I was unable to complete even the first section. The frequent ues of latin words and phrases that are not translated and the descriptions of monastic life assume a familiarity with Catholocism that I did not (and still do not) possess. However, several more years of life experience, and a much more thorough knowledge of Science Fiction has enabled me to at least finish it and, I hope, to glean from it the sentiments I refer to above. I'm still not a huge fan of the book, but I now understand its place in that curriculum. I'm not sure I would recommend the text for that purpose, or to anyone who isn't better versed in the genre than I am now. A background in Catholicism or at least a course in Latin would also help.
Book Review: A possible future for us
Summary: 4 Stars
When I saw this book referenced on Mary Doria Russell's website - AND saw that she had written a new introduction to it - I had to buy this book. "The Sparrow" and "Children of God" are two of my favorite books.
I agree with her that this post-apocalyptic novel has some eerie similarities to today's horrible "Learning, knowledge, science and facts are evil and we should just spend money and listen to George Bush" culture. One of the most telling quotes is this: "To minimize suffering and maximize security were natural and proper ends of society and Caesar. But then they become the only ends, somehow, and the only basis of law - a perversion. Inevitably then, in seeking only them, we found only their opposites - maximum suffering and minimum security."
But I think I missed many of the ground breaking aspects of the book. (Either that or I just read it in the wrong decade - which is often the case.)
I certainly sympathize with the monks and their despair at Man's seemingly unrelenting determination to destroy itself...along with Man's complete inability to learn from the past. I sympathize with them and certainly agree with them...but I don't FEEL what they are feeling. There was a certain...distance to this book that kept it from having the impact that I expected.
So I give this book a four star rating...yet will most likely not seek out the sequel.
Book Review: Words fail me in trying to describe who cool this book is
Summary: 5 Stars
As I looked at the cover I thought "oh golly gee another post apocalyptic piece of crap." We all know the score for these types of books usually follows A. The Trials of an isolated community that has somehow become the last vestige of civilization or B. The chronicle of an army of survivalists attempting to reinstate what they see as the natural order of things.
This was my understanding of what books of this type were supposed to be. I was (thankfully) incredibly wrong. Divided into three parts of 600 years or so first detailing the struggle of a post apocalyptic monastic order in a more or less dark age setting a renaissance setting and finally a post modern setting. What seems at fist to be a simple story about people who want to survive becomes something greater and more complex as the novel progresses.
Will humanity ever learn from its mistakes or are we just doomed to repeat them for the rest of eternity?
Can human knowledge ever truly be preserved? Is the cost of keeping hidden knowledge alive worth martyrdom?
When we finally leave earth for the last time will it be to create a New Eden on some distant star or will we simply take our problems with us?
Overall-Thought provoking and even though at times the Latin references can be extremely frustrating this is one of the deepest books I have read in years.